Kahani Balrampur Ki

About Balrampur

Balrampur district is the 26th district of Chhattisgarh state (India) and Balrampur town is the administrative headquarters of this district. It is one of the backward districts in the state . However it has managed to respond to the Digital call of the Nation and transformed itself completely into a Digital district. Now it stands as a Model district for Digital India where every Panchayat office has become multifunctional in delivering services to its citizens. Balrampur district can now be rightly called as Biometricpur district in real terms.

The transformation

The district administration introduced the e-governance project 'Biometricpur' as part of providing e-services in the entire district. The project was initiated in January 2015. As part of the initiative, village panchayats are being provided online government schemes and internet facilities through optical cable wire. Most villages of this district now have 24-hour electricity supply.

This is a success story of Pathraphada Village, Balrampur District of Chhattisgarh. For receiving the wages for works done under MGNREGS, people of Pathraphada Village will have to travel to nearby town, waiting for hours together for their turn, facing many hurdles and humiliations to get their hard earned money. This was the case for every wage paying day. Its not the case anymore. Thanks to initiatives taken as part of the Digital India and e-Governance programmes, the situation has changed. Now, the Panchayat has become a bank where the MGNREGS payment can be received by the citizens. The Panchayat offers several other citizen services that can now be accessed at the doorstep by the villagers.

This was possible due to the following actions

• Out of 341 Gram panchayats of Balrampur district, 301 Gram panchayats are already converted to Common service centers (CSC) with multiple pro citizen functions.
• 5.6 Lakhs accounts have been attached to biometric registrations of the total population of 7.6 Lakhs.
• 4.03 Lakhs bank accounts have been attached to biometric system and linked to Aadhaar cards.

Source : CSC e-Governance Services India Limited

Related Resources

1. Balrampur district website
2. Press coverage -Biometricpur: An e-governance project reshapes rural districts